>> the new airline will be called american airlines. the question is what it means for travelers, where both airlines have a majority of their flights. transportation reporter adam tuss at national with more. >> reporter: jim, it's pretty much the way business works. >> the question tonight, will this new airlines essentially gobble up all the business? sit back and watch the flight taking off here from reagan national. you start to notice a pattern. us airways and american airlines are constantly flying out of the this airport. in fact figures show that almost 7 out of ever 10 flights leaving here are either us airways or american airlines planes. that has some concerned about a mo stenchal cornering of the market.

>> they don't have to compete. you don't have to worry about keeping every customer happy. >> reporter: some travelers saying the new airline would lose business fast if it decided to raise fares dramatically. >> the customers will reject it. >> reporter: this is just a planned merger right now and there's still some procedure hoops for the airlines to jump through. also if the deal does go through, airline leaders are quick to point out a business strategy they don't know what it would like lie. he isn't issue area coating the potential impact. >> i think it's definitely going to mean higher prices. american airlines is in bankruptcy. >> and he says it's not just ticket prices that could go up. he thinks airline fees could also be affected. >> the airlines have an easier time actually raising their fees

than ticket prices. >> reporter: if passengers are affected by this merger airline leaders say this would be months before that impact is felt. adam fu, news4. that deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. there are now only three megainternational airlines left. united, delta and now american. the new airline will be based near the hub at dallas/ft. worth. a big loss for arizona, because us airways had been head quartered in suburban tempe. police say the death of a 94-year-old man was the result of a homicide. he was found dead in his home last night. pat collins is in faurndia with the word his man and his wife have been a frequent targets for criminals. pat? >> reporter: doreen, imagine living to the age of 94 and then dying this way.

a grid search by police tonight at the scene, looking for a possibility weapon. looking for signs of a break-in something that could lead them to the suspect, and this the first murder in alexandria in over a year. his first name was elmer, but just about everyone called him joe. joe, 94 years old, found dead inside his home last night in the del rey section of alexandria. police are calling it a case of murder. >> we all just loved him. he was i can't imagine anyone doing anything to hurt joe. >> they had complained about thefts at their home before. they have security cameras. they have security lights. now in a surprise move early this morning, police arrested 45 years old marie mabel johnson and charged her in connection with a burglary at the house

last november. they say she took silverware and electronic equipment. she has not been charged in connection with the murder last night. >> i don't know if detectives have spoken with her, but i'm sure they will be speaking to her at some point in the future. >> reporter: has she been ruled out? >> nobody has been ruled out as a suspect. >> reporter: doubly sad that joe died the night before valentine's day. you see they were very much in love. they got married in vegas about ten years ago when he was 84 and she was 76. joe's wife miriam, owns numerous condos along richmond highway, apartments she represents out to people in need. they say she's a generous landlady who helped people get their lives back together. philla jacobs is one of those people. >> he was sweet, he was so funny

he was an outgoing man. he was 94 years old. who would -- it was just -- it was hardbreaking to even hear about it. >> reporter: so tonight the investigation continues on, police looking for a motive, liking for a suspect. pat collins, news4. there's a chance we may learn about the secret meetings next week. less than an hour ago, the judge decided to release transcripts from private courtroom hearings held back in december and january regarding the trial of ink mar guandique. it's being kept secret due to a possible threat. parts of the transcripts will still be kept from public view,

though. senate democrats are out with a plan to avoid the looming budget cuts. the plan would hopefully raise $110 billion without adding to the deficit. half of that would be would be paid by an equal mix of defense and non-defense spending cuts. republicans have already refused any plan that raises any taxes. if congress does not act before march, $85 billion automatically will be drained from the government's budget over the next seven months. also on the hill tonight, another setback in the nomination process for defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. just a short time ago, a procedure vote to close the debate on the nomination narrowingly failed in the senate. president obama said republicans are playing politics while the nation is still at war. hagel has faced many challenges

from fellow republicans. republicans also are demanding more information on president obama's actions on the night of the deadly terror attack at the u.s. consulate in ben ghazi, libya. they want that before they will confirm hagel. the next vote is likely to happen on february 25th. that's when congress returns from a resist. prince george's county got a boost in its ever to have the fbi move its headquartered to green belt. metto says it has about 88 acres that could benefit from a federal agency locating there. no firm decision has been made about moving the fbi anywhere just yesterday. leaders in d.c. and virginia say they're putting proposals together. they wanted new fbi headquarters too. a really nice day out there

today, doug. i think we'll have more tomorrow, but look at that sunset. beautiful. this has been about as good as it gets. that's not going to be the case over the next 24 hours or so. article hyattsville, this is where you're going to be seeing temperatures falling down. tomorrow morning looking okay. tomorrow night, a different story. we'll talk about it coming up. part of downtown silver spring could be getting a major facelith. a massive overhaul could transform the area into a bustling urban development. darcy spencer has more on the potential time line. >> in giant grocery store, very

popular, the only store serving this immediate area. i'm told by the developer, this would stay open, but take a look over here. they're going to be the first to go. >> it's made up of tall buildings, this is an artist's rendering. >> in the last ten years, there's been a lot of development, and we're trying to get people in here. i'm at for it. >> reporter: the plan is to double the number of apartments to 2800. the first step knocking down the four apartment buildings. in their place, taller buildings. dennis davis lives there. >> i think it's a good thing. the building is quite old. i think they were built in the's 50s. they gave us a year's notice.

i think that's reasonable. >> reporter: you have to climb a flight of steps. now that can be challenging if you're disability, pushing a stroller or riding a bike. with the new development, the steps would go away. they want to keep the giant store open while a new store is built. >> the overall picture is to transform an older suburban style community into a more vibrant transit-oriented mixed-use community. >> yes, i'm opposed to it. it has destroyed the skyline. we're now bricked in. >> the developer hopes to break grown in the summer of next year. this is a long testify term project. they do need approval. reporting live from silver

spring, darcy spencer, news4. thanks, darcy. president obama says early childhood education is a worthwhile investment. he's pushing to make quality affordable preschool available to all the 4-year-olds across the country. the president took that message to a school in decatur, georgia today. he told the audience that education has to start at the earliest possible age. it's the plan that he pitched in the state of the union address earlier this week. >> most middle class parents can't afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. and for the poor children who need it the most, the lack of access to a preschool education can have an impact on their entire lives. we all pay a price for that. >> the president also visited the college heights -- he received a round of hugs. it's his second day on the road

following the state of the union address. he's out to promote initiatives in his second term. >> virginia's so-called tebow bill has been sacked for a second year in a row. it would have been allowed home-schooled children to play sports at schools they don't attend. the bill failed on a 7-8 vote in the senate education and health committee. senator blylevens, a retired schoolteacher voted with the democrats to kill that bill. yet another delay for the passengers on that il-fated cruise ship trying to get to dry land tonight. an olympic athlete captured the hearts of people around the world. tonight, though, new details about the arrest of south africa's blade runner in the murder of his model girlfriend. the video was compelling, the former police officer barricabar barrica barricaded. tonight an exclusive interview with the owner of that cabin as

she watched the entire ordeal play out on tv. >> it's hard for me to imagine him in there, and i did do that. i imagined what is he doing? what room is he in? >> that woman's thoughts when she saw the fire. plus a local couple in northern virginia collects a monster lottery jackpot.

a california woman said she could not believe her eyes when she turned on her tv tuesday and saw her family's vacation home going up in flames. candy martin owned the cabin near big bear, california. it's the one that caught fire after authorities closed in on a man believed to be fugitive police officer christopher dorner. the home was reduced to rubble and ash. >> well, as first it was just utter shock. we're looking and thinking these are cabins, they look like my cabins. we're looking at them closer, and they are. there's no doubt. it's hard for me to imagine him in there, and i did do that. i imagined what is he doing? what room is he in? but then the fire, oh, my gosh, that was heart-wrenching to see the fire. i just started crying. i couldn't talk at that point. >> reporter: martin said the burned-out cabin was one of six she owns on the property.

they were built in 1928. dorner is believed to have died in the cabin. the olympic sprinter known as the blade runner has gone from national hero to murder spect down in south africa. his name is oscar pistorius. he's accused of killing his girlfriend. he made history as the first double amputee to compete in the olympic games. rowan kantru has the story. >> reporter: he's due to spend the evening inside the police cell. he was arrested early this morning. after reports of a shooting incident in which his girlfriend was killed. she was shot several times, it's thought and he was arrested shortly afterwards. >> such a devastating thought, his whole life, what he could achieve.

>> reporter: some of the details have stunned south africans. he's an incredible hero here. >> you know, oscar has done so much for the country. >> reporter: he's due to appear in court early tomorrow morning around 9:00 local time, about 2:00 a.m. eastern time. there the charge against him will be outlined we've been told by the authorities this evening that they want to resist any attempts by lawyers represents oscar pistorius to try to get bail. they don't want him to return here to his secure home tomorrow evening. police say there have been previous incident, incidents involves what police call allegations of a domestic nature. the carnival cruise ship "triumph" is slowly returning to port, the towline snapped,

delaying them even longer. it's been four days since the fire left the massive cruiseship stranded. new photos from a passenger on board show beds set up on the ship's deck. for passengers to avoid the water and the smell in the cabins. officials believe it's still five hours, even longer from reaching port. we've got one of the passenger on board the karn valid cruiseship on the phone with us. heather blue is on the ship as it's being towed. heather, thank you for joining us. what's the situation there right now? >> um, it's pretty calm. people are kind of walking around. pretty uplifted knowing we'll be getting off the boat soon. you know. there's a chance we may be docking in the middle of the

night, disembarking earlier tomorrow morning, you hear -- but it's a community now on board. >> are you sleeping in your cabin at night. >> well, we're really lucky. we're on the ninth floor and we have a balcony, so we've been opening the rooms at night, and it vent lace the -- so we're lucky. it's been rough for the people without -- >> you sound pretty upbeat. has this not been a challenge for you? >> well, again we've been really lucky. the passengers have been great, the crew has been great. i feel like carnival handled it as well as they can. it's been a challenge, about but the nighttimes have been rough, but people have been so nice. that's all we have when you're in the middle of the ocean. it was really -- there have

definitely been some challenges, sewage and lack of power has been really difficult. but, you know, it's a challenge. it's almost over. >> carnival lines has offered a free cruise and number of other -- well, not rewards, but efforts to make you feel better. are you satisfied with what carnival has been offering to make up for this ordeal? >> you know, i think so. i know that, again, a lot of people have had -- there's some small children on board, they ran out of baby formula, they have to -- you know, there's been some -- but we've been lucky, you know, we really -- we really can't complain compared to what a lot of people have had to endure. we're pretty satisfied. right now we're just looking forward to getting off the boat. >> what are you hearing about when that's going to happen?

>> well, we thought it was going to be between 10:00 and 12:00 eastern time, but now we're hearing it may not dock until tomorrow morning. so it's going to be difficult to prepare ourselves to spend another night on board. you know, it's been eight days now? seven, eight days? so that will be a little hard to hear, but we'll get through it. they're taking it hour by hour, day by day, helping each other other. we've gotten to know each other and become family. we're ready for it to be over. >> hang in there. hopefully it won't be too long for you and the thousands of passengers on that ship. thank you for talking with us. doug's here now with a check on our weather. wow, nice day out there. >> if you're going to have a nice day, why not on valentine's day? >> why not? >> if you're thinking about

going out to dinner, tonight will be a nice evening, too. we're getting some nice weather tonight, but then, heading in towards valentine's day weekend, if you're calling it that, things will go downhill just a bit. take a look at this shot. plenty of sunshine today. speaking of sunset, the sun will rise tomorrow before 7:00 for the first time this year. so our days obviously getting longer, and they'll continue to do so. tomorrow the sun rises at 6:59 tomorrow morning. we should not have a similar problem with freezing roads tonight. most everybody into the 40s. ultimate winchester coming in at about 39. we are going to cool fairly

quickly with clear skies. storm team 4 radar is on the dry side. it will not stay on the dry side, though. the sunshine today, brought that nice weather. tomorrow i think we're going to start off pretty nice. so still a nice days with warm temperatures. we're seeing an area of low pressure. how much moisture does it have? but right now it look like it could start off with rain. so we'll show you what's happening around future weather. that system moving in, starting off as rain. at the most likely transition to snow. by 6:00 a.m. on saturday morning, thank goodness it is a saturday. we're dealing with snow that could be accumulating even on the roadways, just a matter of how cold it gets. once again, a very quick mover, and it should be out of here by 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon.

who will see the most? the best chance of at least 1 inch or more is to you south. and then a chance -- not a bad chance over towards winchester and frederick. you want to make sure you tune in for that. here's one thing we know for sure. it will be cold on saturday and on sunday. it's going to be fairly chili and rather breezy. so windchills both saturday and sunday should be in the mid to upper 20s. tomorrow morning, no problems. temperatures 27 to about 34 degrees, winds out of the northwest at about 5 to 10. tomorrow afternoon, a nice afternoon, but we will see the clouds on the increase. 37 on sunday, 44 on monday, as

we start to move back out of the that cooldown. we will see temperatures on tuesday around 51, could start tuesday morn with some freezing rain. so that's something we're going to watch. it is going to be cold, much colder and breezy early in the morning, and areawide accumulation. i think this will hit at least everybody, but is it a coating or an inch or 2? we'll continue to watch this forecast the next 24 hours or o so. it would be interesting if a finy storm brought us as much snowfall we've seen at the airport, which so far is a third of an inch. >> wow, one puny disappointing snowstorm after another. thank you, doug. accused burglar on the campus of georgetown university has been busted. >> a local man made a list of the top 100 in the country. meet the man making history. and we'll tell you what the

general manager of washington's football team has to say about that team's name. coming up in sports, it's the first full workout for the pitcher and catchers. some have arrived early, including bryce harper. world series aspirations for ha

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